Financial management and accountancy

Capital expenditure budgetCapital expenditure (capex) refers to the money spent to acquire the physical assets of a business. The role of a capex budget is to take account of all expenditures that are required to replace worn-out or depleted assets a... Read more

Closure reportFrom time to time, businesses choose to close down an office, branch, depot, or separate business (such as a subsidiary or associated company). Closures must be monitored to ensure they are effectively completed and that progress is bei... Read more

Variance reportIf the financial results differ from that which was expected, it's important to present explanations as to why this has happened. However, it's often easy to assume a glib and sometimes convenient reason for these variances instead of re... Read more

Project reportMost businesses have a number of projects in progress at any time. When any project is large or important enough to have a major effect on the business's performance (profit or cash), there should be a separate report presented with the ... Read more

Sales mix calculatorWhether your company sells products or provides services, your sales are unlikely to be comprised of a single line. It's more likely that the company sells a range of products or services and it's equally likely that the gross profi... Read more

Customer profitability reportThe objective of a customer profitability report is to increase the overall profitability of the business by focusing scarce sales resources on the most profitable customers. You can also use the report to ensure unprofit... Read more

Pareto analysis spreadsheetMany of your daily work problems don't have a single root cause, rather several quite separate contributing factors. You can use Pareto analysis to analyse this cause and effect.The 80/20 rulePareto analysis is the method of ... Read more

Sales trends analysisSales levels can fluctuate for a number of reasons, and where they have declined it is right for the board to be concerned. Falling sales could indicate problems with marketing, distributors, the product, production levels, prici... Read more

Operating leverage calculatorIn times when sales are volatile, profitability depends on the level of your company's operating leverage. You can help your business by working out what this is and identifying steps to improve it. Fixed costsOperating le... Read more